My adoption story begins long ago. As a child growing up I was always drawn to global issues and seemed to think outside of what I feel was the cultural norm. As I followed God down the paths he took me through high school and college I found myself in places like village schools in Bosnia and an orphanage in Haiti where I continued to be challenged with what my response would be to the knowledge I possessed. As I thought about what my future would look like, there was always a constant image - two internationally adopted boys at my side. Once I turned 25 (which is the eligible age for a single woman to adopt globally) I begin to pray that I would follow God and His timing for this new adventure in my life.
When considering what country I wished to adopt from my first inclination was Haiti and I was pretty set on that. After all, it was in Haiti that I had visited my first orphanage and had heard the stories of abandoned children that would never leave my mind. I was actually preparing to send an inquiry about Haiti adoptions when the earthquake hit. As international adoptions were halted following the quake, I began to pray more intently. My plan was to begin the process as soon as adoptions were opened back up for Haiti. However, when that happened the age for single women to adopt was listed as 35. This posed a problem for being as I'm just 26. I gave it to God and decided that if it was His plan that I wait 9 years, that is what I would do even though it didn't set well with me.
On May 6th, I stumbled upon one of Donald Miller's teachings online that caused me to question my assumption that God has a specific plan for my life. His plan is for me to love and know Him and to love people but what that ends up looking like in the details may not be that important. This resonated within me and made me realize that I had been focusing a lot on the details instead of just following God down the adoption path that He had clearly placed in my heart. Once I realized this, I immediately went online to look up the options that existed for a single woman to adopt and the first site I found was Children of all Nations, an organization in Texas. Everything seemed to fit perfectly for me to pursue adoption from Ethiopia through this agency. This marked a renewed sense of purpose and vision accompanied by a feeling of freedom. The timing for Ethiopia is currently 8-14 months. I am excited about venturing down this road and can't wait to see how God works all of this out.
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